Jacqueline Woodson to Explore Belonging in Two Upcoming Books

In her National Book Award-winning memoir in verse “Brown Girl Dreaming,” Jacqueline Woodson hones in on the idea that dialogue inspires understanding; throughout the book, Ms. Woodson urges readers, over and over, to listen. This and several other themes are picked up in two upcoming books by Ms. Woodson: a middle-grade novel called “The Dream of America,” and a picture book called “The Day You Begin.” They will be published in August.

The middle-grade novel takes place in Crown Heights and follows a group of fifth and sixth grade students brought together weekly by their teacher for an informal, unchaperoned support group. In their personal lives, each student is grappling with seemingly distinct concerns: Esteban’s father is facing deportation to the Dominican Republic; Ashton is white and reckoning with his economic status after his father loses his job and moves the family to Crown Heights from Connecticut; Haley, a biracial girl, has an incarcerated father, and so on. Week by week, their conversations reveal common ground and help them form cross-cultural bonds.

The novel is still evolving, and Ms. Woodson called the process an exciting act of “self-discovery.”

“I am talking about what it means to be in this country at this moment in time in certain bodies,” she said.

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From the picture book “The Day You Begin,” which will be published in August.CreditRafael López

The picture book, which will be illustrated by Mexican artist Rafael López, is inspired by a poem in “Brown Girl Dreaming” called “It Will Be Scary Sometimes.” The original poem describes the experience of Ms. Woodson’s ancestor, William J. Woodson, as the only black boy in a classroom. In “The Day You Begin,” Ms. Woodson mines this experience for a story about a new student who feels misunderstood or alone, and the ways in which his classmates — be it because of their lack of athletic ability or accented English — can relate to this “universal feeling,” said Ms. Woodson’s longtime editor, Nancy Paulsen, the president and publisher of Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint at Penguin Random House.

“She’s so thoughtful, and I think she has helped move so many conversations forward in a positive way,” said Ms. Paulsen, adding that she hopes these two new projects will “continue to further dialogue.”

In Ms. Woodson’s view, there was an immediacy to telling these stories now. As a writer, she said, "I need to see where the hope in this moment exists and by extension that becomes what the reader sees and feels.”

Ms. Woodson considers that perspective crucial, especially for young people, who can then “look through moments in time into a more hopeful place” in the future.